New labels show not all Kona Brewing Co. beer made in Hawaii

The recent resurgence of Hawaii’s craft brewing industry, which I wrote about in April and which Hawaiian Airlines’ Hana Hou inflight magazine featured in its October/November issue, has once again brewed up an interesting topic: Where the beer is actually made and the claims that these companies are making.

It’s even causing one of the top brewers in the state — Kona Brewing Co. — to begin changing its labels to reflect that some of its beers are made in places other than Hawaii. The Kailua-Kona-based brewery, part of the Craft Brew Alliance (Nasdaq: BREW), also makes its bottled beer and Mainland draft beer in Portland, Ore., Woodinville, Wash., and Portsmouth, N.H., as part of its partnership with Craft Brew Alliance Inc, according to its website.